Pain
by Unborn Lord Xion
Summary: The Hyuuga clan goes to hell in a big way. NejiNaruHina. Dark. COMPLETE, unless you count all my NejiNaruHina fic as one timeline, which I kind of do.


**Title:** Pain  
**Fandom:** Naruto  
**Couple:** Naruuga - Neji/Naruto/Hinata  
**Challenge:** #28 - Get Out  
**Rating:** R for violence and strong language. Oh, and angst. Loads of angst.  
**Summary:** The Hyuuga clan goes to hell in a big way.

Neji knew it was coming a moment before it did. Hiashi made a quick seal, and blinding agony exploded in his skull, sending him falling to his knees. He clutched as his head, crying out in pain as it burned behind is eyes and in his very soul. That seal. That damned, fucking seal. And Hiashi was using it, for what? For loving? No...but for loving that wasn't approved of.

Hiashi hated that Neji and Hinata were with that "damnable fox," even though he really, truly wasn't. Naruto was loving, and kind, and strong, but he was viewed as a monster. And the Hyuuga Heir, not to mention the strongest in the Clan, would not be "sacrificing their futures for some mongrel welp." And in his rage, a rage he didn't know he even possessed, Neji had lashed out.

He had threatened to leave, threatened to just get up and go. "If you don't want what I am, then I'll just go," he said. But that was unacceptable. Because Neji was _strong_. Neji was _talented_. And he was a _genius_. Some genius. A genius wouldn't have been fool enough to risk his life for love, would he? But then, Neji had never wanted to be a genius. He just wanted to be a man.

So when Hiashi had told him to, "Think about what was best for the clan," Neji had. And when Hiashi had told him to, "Give up on that useless monster," Neji had told him exactly what the Hyuuga clan could do with that idea. In explicit detail. He was quite proud of making Hanabi blush, incidentally, but that was not the point.

The pain was the point.

That pure, unnatural pain. Fire behind his eyes, threatening to boil out his brain until the smoke and agony made him choke. Bliding and electric, focused on a single pin-prick of absolute torment. It squeezed at all of his nerves at once, contristicting them and sending screaming messages down the pathways. It was almost deafening. There was pain, so much pain it was hard to even think straight.

And then, the scream of an angel.

"Stop it!"

There was a loud crack, and the pain disappated, reduced to a dull throbbing much like a powerful migrane. Neji found that he had been bent over, and the wet warmth on his palms made him realize that he had dug his nails in hard enough to bleed. He looked up slowly, sweat-damp hair hanging in front of his eyes, which slowly widened in utter shock.

It was Naruto. Naruto had come, Naruto had screamed, and Naruto had smacked Hiashi in the face. No. _Punched_.

The elder Hyuuga sent Naruto an utterly-chilling glare, one that would have even made Neji flinch, but Naruto stood tall, face contorted in self-righteous fury. His eyes were tinted with a threaning red, and the bared teeth seemed sharper than normal.

"This is not your business, monster," Hiashi spat. "Leave this compound immediately."

"This is my business," Naruto snarled in reply. "Neji is my lover, and I won't let anyone hurt him, or Hinata."

"She is my daughter, and he is my nephew," was the measured response, cool detatchment laced with underlying malice. "This is a matter for Hyuuga, not _Kyuubi_."

Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously, his canines becoming yet more pronounced. "You do not want to cross that line, Hiashi," he said in a deathly soft growl. "I just want to take Neji and Hinata home."

Hiashi simply let out a bark of patronizing laughter. "Back to that den of...debauchery? With you? The one who has poisoned their minds? I think not."

"I haven't poisoned anything!"

"You've turned them against me," Hiashi said, face stern and impassive once more. "My eldest daughter, heir to the clan, cannot be allowed to turn against us. Neither can someone of such talent as Neji."

"And that's all you care about, isn't it?" Naruto said bitterly. "Just their talent and their blood. You could care less who they are as long as they listen to you, right? Like precious little Hanabi?"

"Don't try my patience, boy. Leave!"

"Not without them!"

"Do not make me force you, boy." Hiashi's words rang cold and true, and there was silence in the room as Neji flicked his gaze back in forth between the two men. He knew that his uncle was strong indeed, but Naruto could give him a definate run for his money, especially with that power inside him. And it looked like it was leaking out.

"Just let them come with me."

"Never."

"Hiashi-sama," Neji said, surprised at how steady his voice sounded. He expected the pain to be harder to hide. Not that it was at all absent, of course. "I...I'm going with him."

Hiashi's gaze turned instantly, that ice-cold stare sweeping over Neji and freezing his soul.

"What?"

"I'm going with him," he repeated, even more firmly. He began to rise to his feet, but was stopped by the sound of Hiashi's voice.

"I will not allow it! You are a Hyuuga and you shall remain here."

Neji tilted his head up and infused all his pain and all his hatred into a single stare. He felt a kind of sick pride when he saw his uncle struggling to avoid recoiling.

"If this is the burden of my name...then I renounce it."

"You cannot -- "

"You don't know what I can do!" Neji barked, cutting Hiashi off. He knew the risk - the pain was still far too fresh for him to forget. But he was no genius, after all. He was just a man in love. "I know how strong I am, and I know how strong you are. You cannot keep me here."

"You have been branded," Hiashi hissed. "You are of the Branch family, so you will listen to my orders!"

Neji stood at his full height, having surpassed his uncle, and stretched slightly to rid himself of some of the tension in his muscles.

"I refuse."

"I can kill you with a seal," Hiashi growled.

"And it won't take me half a second to do the same to you," Naruto growled, taking a step forward. "You think I'm a monster? Just try and hurt Neji again. Then you'll see a monster."

"If...If you did anything to me...you'd be punished severely," Hiashi said, the subtle stammer in his voice the only sign of the fear creeping into his mind. "You do not even know the trouble that would come your way."

"I don't fucking care if I have to flee the Fire Nation to do it," growled Naruto. "I'm taking Neji and Hinata. For good."

"And would you really kill me, Hiashi-sama?" Neji asked, hiding a bitter smirk. "Kill the strongest of your clan?"

Hiashi was clearly agitated. Neji had never seen him like this, so he had no idea how the man would react. Hyuuga weren't used to being pushed into corners, after all. After a long pause, the elder took a deep breath.

"Fine. Get out. But do not expect to ever be asked to return, or welcomed warmly if you do."

"I wouldn't," Neji replied, leaving it ambiguous what, exactly, he wouldn't do.

Neji and Naruto turned to leave, but Hiashi called out.

"Neji...wait."

Neji paused, but did not turn. He didn't want to give Hiashi the satisfaction.

"If...If you have a child, train him. I...I want him to be strong."

Neji thought a moment. "I shall do my best."

And that was it. Neji and Naruto went to Hinata, and the three of them went to Naruto's home. Their home.

And for the first time ever, Neji felt truly free.


End file.
